NYC - Brooklyn - Prospect Park Zoo: Animals in Our Lives - KoiImage by wallygkoiKoi (鯉), or more specifically nishikigoi (錦鯉), are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp Cyprinus carpio. They are believed to have originated from Eastern Asia, Aral, Black and Caspian Seas. Earliest records of Koi have been found in China and have been widely spread in Japan. The ornamental cultivation of carp flourished under the Chinese Qing Dynasty and Japanese Yayoi Period. They are very closely related to goldfish and, in fact, the style of breeding and ornamentation has become very similar, probably through the efforts of Japanese breeders to emulate goldfish. Koi and tattoos of koi are traditionally considered lucky.

The word "koi" comes from Japanese. The original Japanese word koi simply means "carp," including both the dull grey fish and the brightly colored varieties. A homonym of koi means 'love, affection' and koi are therefore symbols of love and friendship in Japan.

*The Prospect Park Zoo, Brooklyn's only Zoo, is home to nearly 400 animals of more than 80 species. First established as a small menagerie in Prospect Park in the late 1800's, this collection of animals became the more formal Prospect Park Zoo on Flatbush Avenue that opened to the public on July 3, 1935. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, the Zoo was part of a massive city-wide park improvement program initiated and executed by former Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. Closed in 1988 for a five year, million dollar renovation program, the zoo was completely replaced save for the exteriors of the 1930's-era buildings. Rededicated on October 5, 1993, it joined Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) world-renowned network of wildlife parks in New York City.

Submit your photo to become part of a massive photo mosaic of a tiger!!Read more about this here »» Help End the Tiger Trade

"A new and significant threat to tigers in the wild comes from large scale tiger farms in China. Tigers are being speed-bred at these farms to supply tiger bone and other body parts for commercial trade in the hope that China will one day allow the sale of their byproducts to be legal."Read more here »» Tigers Under Threat: Keep the Trade in Tiger Parts Illegal

No matter where they stand in the animal kingdom, kids are all the same!Image by praline3001

Taken at Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.I was taking some fun photos of Menari, a Sumatran orangutan. In this shot she is zoning in on her dad. A split second after I took this she leaped on top of her sleeping dad's head and started attacking him playfully. He was not amused!! If this expression doesn't show intelligence and premeditation I don't know what does. Regardless of species, kids are all the same HA HA

project 365This little darling is a female juvenile orangutan named Menari. She was born at Audobon Zoo in 2009. She is an Sumatran orangutan, a species that is endangered in its Indonesian homeland.

Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage. Their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes.